Industry News
The (Possible) Future of Online Slots
In online slots are about anything they are about technology. At every stage of the development of slot machines – from the earliest mechanical machines, through video slots and on to online provision – slots have taken the latest technological advances and used them to deliver an enhanced player experience. While it’s always difficult to predict what’s going to happen in the future of online slots – developers are keen to keep their best ideas under wraps – one safe bet is that the most exciting developments of 2020 will revolve around the latest technology being harnessed to change when, where and, most importantly, how players experience online slots.
Skill Based Slots
The line between game playing and slots has been blurring for some time. Slots like Jungle Jim: El Dorado and Immortal Romance have made use of the kind of characters, storylines, luscious graphics and different levels that are more familiar from console games than traditional slot machines. The key to these slots is still the spin of the wheels, perhaps, but there’s much more going on.
The next step in this evolution – and the point at which slots and games begin to merge – is likely to be the introduction of slots with skill based features. The appeal of this will be two fold; gamers who spend much of their leisure time exploring detailed 3D worlds via the latest generation of consoles will feel right at home with the slots, and the appeal will extend to players who a value a test of skill over a purely random spin of the wheels.
Female Friendly Slots
For many years gambling had a fairly masculine image. It was assumed that the people visiting casinos were mainly men, and the same was thought to apply to online casinos. The advertising for online gambling apps has often reflected this balance, both in terms of its’ content and how it has been targeted. More recently, however, this perception has shifted. A survey carried out by 888.com found that the divide in online gambling now fell at 56.2% men and 43.8% women. The developers of online slots will be aware of this shift, and it is likely to be reflected in the kind of imagery which slots are based around. Bikini clad babes and bunny girls are going to make way for figures of female empowerment like Wonder Woman or simply non-specific images which aren’t designed primarily to catch the eye of a passing man. The rise of access through social media like Facebook will also feed into this trend, with women known to value the social aspect of online gambling more highly than their male counterparts.
Welcome Bonuses
Virtually every online casino worth its’ salt now offers a dazzling range of welcome bonuses. The reason for this is that they mark a key way of casino being able to differentiate themselves. In a competitive market dominated by a relatively small number of developers, innovative, attractive and generous welcome bonuses are a relatively simple way for an online casino to set itself apart. Once a player has selected a specific casino – drawn by a generous bonus – they are likely to stay with that casino in the longer term. In 2020 we can expect welcome bonuses to become more generous and, in many cases, to be tied to specific games. These are often games like Mega Moolah which offer the chance to land a huge progressive jackpot, setting up the tantalising prospect of becoming a millionaire on the back of free spins.
Crypto Currency
Crypto currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum often make the headlines on the back of lurid tales of people making or losing millions, or speculation on the degree to which they will eventually replace ‘conventional’ currencies. In the world of online gambling, the use of crypto currencies has been fairly slow to take off, but the obvious advantages they offer mean that this situation is likely to change in the future.
The advantages for crypto currencies when online gambling include the following:
- Withdrawals are faster – because the funds don’t have to be processed by a bank – something which can sometimes take several days – crypto currency withdrawal are often virtually instant.
- Anonymity – when you use a crypto currency to gamble the only information the casino has is your key number and how much you have deposited. Because you don’t have to leave details such as a payment card and your name and address you can play with complete discretion and relax in the knowledge that you’re not at risk from a data leak or malicious hacking.
Wearable Technology
The switch from desk based provision to mobile gaming was one of the biggest changes to hit online casinos in the last 5 years. Suddenly, people could play their favourite slots on the train while commuting, sitting at the kitchen table or even (if they were willing to risk their smart phone) in the bath. This switch meant that developers had to rise to the challenge of creating slots that worked equally well on hand held devices, and the next leap forward seems set to be a shift to wearable technology.
According to Statista, the market for smartwatches is set to boom in the next couple of years. The prediction is that, by 2022, 37 million smartwatches worldwide will be running the operating systems Wear OS and Android, while 34.5 million will be running the Apple Watch OS. In a world in which players can access their favourite slots without even having to take their phone out of their pocket, developers will be keen to create titles offering instant thrills, bold graphics that work well on a small scale and no-fuss playability.
Augmented Reality
Remember Pokemon Go? That was the moment that the technology of augmented reality crossed the line from being a tool that was useful if you wanted to see what a chair would look like in your lounge, to being part of the world of mas entertainment/gaming. In simple terms, augmented reality allows users to impose video graphics onto real world solutions, via a device like a smart phone or a tablet. Augmented reality slots will bring the sights and sounds of a real world slot machine into the environment in which the player is located, including special effects like fireworks and raining coins to celebrate a big jackpot win.
Industry News
Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal
With Bitblox introducing an entirely new breed of crypto-based price prediction games to the iGaming industry, we talked to CEO, Brandt Page, to discover how combining elements of both chance and skill with lightning-fast betting rounds has helped improve their cross-market appeal.
When Bitblox was first established, our core concept was relatively simple; we didn’t just want to provide players with a new twist on an existing format like slots or casino games, but instead sought to create an entirely new vertical that combined elements of chance and elements of skill.
One of the main drivers behind this decision was the fact that we wanted our releases to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – and I think from the figures we’ve seen so far, we’ve already had some notable success on that front in terms of the players that are engaging with our games.
Funnily enough, I was recently talking to the Head of Marketing from one of the operators that we work with and they told me they were struggling to place our games optimally. Initially, they’d put them in with crash and instant win content, but they soon discovered a lot of their in-game traffic was coming from sports bettors. A move to the sports betting tab followed, but the exact same-thing happened with casino players, leading to the games eventually winding up on the front page.
As this was going on, our games were continuing to post solid numbers with the customers who bet on both sports and casino – and all of this engagement was coming without there being any additional promotion from us or the operator. So why was it that our games were performing so well across these different player segments? I believe there are a number of contributing factors.
First and foremost, having this hybrid model of games of chance and games of skill that I’ve already mentioned has placed us in a fairly unique position within the iGaming industry. On the one hand, the simple premise of our Bitcoin-based titles – coupled with their attractive designs and intuitive UI – makes them highly accessible to casino players who are just looking to have fun.
On the other, the fact that Bitblox games aren’t based on RNG and are instead pinned to the real-time movements of the Bitcoin market certainly resonates with a sports betting audience. As they have the ability to follow the charts and use this information to inform their decisions, they definitely feel they have more control over the outcome than if they were playing a traditional slot.
Another key aspect of our cross-market appeal is the fast-paced nature of all Bitblox releases. With casino players being accustomed to the quick wins and instant gratification of slots and crash games and sports bettors also showing a growing preference for in-play wagering, we’ve ensured each game round is resolved quickly and that there are multiple opportunities for betting.
When we first launched Up or Down?, which features one-minute betting rounds, we soon learned that even this timeframe is too long for some players. This resulted in us developing Up or Down? Turbo – a game which kept the same mechanics as its predecessor but reduced the betting window to 20 seconds – and this has gone on to become one of our most successful titles.
Keeping all this in mind, one of the things I’m most excited about is the upcoming release of our latest game, 3 in a Row, as I think this is a title that really ties everything I’ve talked about so far together. Designed to look like a slot machine, 3 in a Row challenges players to correctly predict how the Bitcoin price will move over three separate 20-second windows for even bigger payouts.
Intended to appeal to casual users and serious sports bettors alike, players can elect to either spin the reels for fun and select a random price sequence or use the bet builder feature to put together their own custom prediction. With the latter essentially functioning like an accumulator bet, players can select up to three possible combinations – i.e. Up/Up/Up, Up/Up/Down etc – and only one result needs to land for them to win, ensuring they stay engaged until the final seconds.
I believe that 3 in a Row can help build on the strong foundations we’ve laid down with casino and sports bettors and provide operators with another popular option that offers significant cross-market appeal. Based on what we’ve seen from previous Bitblox releases, the audience for titles that combine elements of chance and elements of skill is definitely out there – and I’m looking forward to our unique brand of crypto-based games being enjoyed by even more players in future.
Industry News
Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal
In-demand content provider extends reach into largest iGaming market in the world with its full suite of games made available via iLottery aggregation platform
Gaming Corps, a publicly-listed game studio based in Sweden renowned for creating industry-leading games, has made its debut in the US market through a breakthrough agreement with leading lottery provider, EQL Games.
The distribution agreement will see Gaming Corps’ full suite of games made available to EQL Games’ powerful iLottery Aggregation Platform, developed to provide lottery operators across America with direct access to a portfolio of proprietary and third-party games.
Following the integration, EQL Games’ lottery operator partners will be offered proven Slots, Table Games, Multiplier Games, Mine Games and Plinko Games, as well as titles under Gaming Corps’ innovative and trademarked Smash4Cash™ series.
The deal and integration come at a time of growing demand among online lottery operators in the US for non-traditional content, a format that Gaming Corps has excelled in, especially with its Smash4Cash™ games, which have been a hit with players in global markets.
EQL’s aggregation platform has been developed to allow online lottery operators to quickly and easily access content from multiple game studios simultaneously through one integration and one commercial agreement.
Its iLottery Aggregation platform simplifies the process of adding new games to an online lottery brand across regulated states. In addition to the third-party content provided via its aggregator platform, EQL Games has a portfolio of in-house titles.
This includes games produced under licence with Team USA which were rolled out by several state lotteries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year, with new titles being planned ahead of the Winter Games in Milan (2026) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles (2028).
Juha Kauppinen, CEO of Gaming Corps, said: “The USA has always been somewhat of the holy grail for game developers like us, which has been further emphasised as markets in several states have become regulated. The potential in the American market is enormous, and the impact for us is a bit difficult to assess, but we have great hopes for the collaboration with EQL Games, which has an impressive platform towards U.S. lotteries.
“We believe it will have a significantly positive impact on our revenues. I would like to personally take the opportunity to thank EQL Games and Brad Cummings for the collaboration, and we are now working hard to complete the integration so that all our games will be offered to EQL’s customers via their platform.”
Brad Cummings, CEO of EQL Games, added: “Including Gaming Corps as a supplier to the EQL Games iLottery Aggregator is an exciting step forward in our mission to offer unique, high-quality content to state lotteries. Gaming Corps’ expertise in iGaming, along with their unique game portfolio, fits perfectly with our vision of enhancing the lottery experience through dynamic and engaging content.”
Industry News
Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0
The highly anticipated Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0 has officially entered the public voting phase as submissions are closed.
More than 70 game providers have turned in over 160 submissions, including Tom Horn Gaming, Pragmatic Play and RubyPlay. Public voting involves enthusiasts casting their votes to pick the winner of the Game of Public Choice category.
The Public voting phase ends on December 1st 23:59 GMT+4.
Concurrent to public voting, the first phase of private voting also starts during which all participants who have submitted entries get the chance to vote for one favourite in each category. An international auditing company oversees this phase to eliminate duplicate votes and self-votes. This phase ends on November 19, 23:59 GMT+4.
The second phase of private voting will also take place with a jury of industry experts making their decisions based on the shortlist picked by participants during the first phase.
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